Imperfect Women star and executive producer Kerry Washington knows how rare it is to have a dream project greenlit in an industry that is struggling. “This is a challenging time in a lot of ways,” says Washington, who insisted that production of Apple TV’s psychological thriller series take place in Los Angeles. Being able to work with two female collaborators is equally a testament to Washington’s ability to create the working environment of her choosing. “I feel so blessed to be able to do what I love to do,” she says. “I want to do it with people I think can make me better and who I can make better.”

DEADLINE: How important is being a producer on your work — having control over not just your acting process, but over the project in general?

KERRY WASHINGTON: It’s pretty important to me. I still sign on for work that I’m not a producer on, but it has to be at a very high level and with partners that I really trust will allow me to be a collaborator, even if I’m not a producer. For example, working with Rian Johnson on the Knives Out film or working on Animals [with Ben Affleck], those are two directors I really respect and admire, and I believed that they would be great collaborators — and that I would learn a lot in the process that I could take back to the work that I do as a producer. But most of the work that I do now, I’m involved in either because Simpson Street is producing it, as with this show, or at least as an EP.

DEADLINE: What reassurance does that give you on a project?

WASHINGTON: It allows me to have a voice in the creative process. It allows me to have agency and an opinion from everything from who’s hired, who are the department heads, who’s being cast, edits on the writing, post-production, the marketing plans. It allows me to collaborate and contribute at every stage of the process.

DEADLINE: Would you say that you and Elisabeth Moss are the top of the ladder on Imperfect Women?

WASHINGTON: I don’t know that either of us would use that language or that kind of a metaphor. We’re much more communal partners. Our production companies are the lead production companies. It started with her — she bought the rights to the book and brought me in. But Love & Squalor and Simpson Street have really linked arms to bring this show to life.

DEADLINE: What was it about Araminta Hall’s source material that you were drawn to?

WASHINGTON: I think, and we really tried to honor this in the show, it was extraordinary for both Lizzie and I to read this material, where you enter the story through one character’s point of view, and that feels substantive enough to be the entire story. And then suddenly it switches and you’re in the perspective of the dead woman. And then it switches again. That framework was so spectacularly creative, but also a really good exercise in the world right now, to remind ourselves that we may not understand the full picture of something until we allow ourselves to stand in someone else’s shoes.

DEADLINE: There are small nuances to how the characters change within the course of eight episodes. Who is Eleanor from the point of view of Eleanor?

WASHINGTON: Oh God, what an interesting question. In those first three episodes she really has a transformative journey, so I’m not even sure that she would answer that question the same way in Episode 1 that she does in Episode 3. What I really love is that by the end of the show it feels like you’re in, for the first time, a shared perspective of Eleanor and Mary (Elisabeth Moss). There’s a sense of self and clarity of identity that comes from both of these women grappling with the truth, and being willing to share their truths with each other and with themselves.

DEADLINE: As an actor, how aware were you of the differences in Eleanor as a character, depending on whether it was her own episode, Nancy’s (Kate Mara) or Mary’s (Moss)

WASHINGTON: We were very aware of it. And I came to the work in a very different way [depending on the episode]. By the time we were in Episodes 4 and 5, I knew that my job was to really support Kate Mara, because now she was holding the show. And then in 6 and 7, although 7 is shared, it was to really support Lizzie, because now she’s holding the show. That was also a joy — for each of us to step into the leading role, but then also very comfortably serve each other as we pass the baton, right until the end. And, then, it does really feel like Lizzie and I cross that finish line together, which is so fun.

DEADLINE: In a case like this, do you rely more on the writing or the directors, when it comes to those subtle character changes?

WASHINGTON: A lot of it is in the writing, and that’s part of why we worked so hard [on the scripts]. Annie Weisman, our showrunner, is fantastic, and Kay Oyegun was also with us on every episode. We had a great writers’ room. One of the things that we fought for at Simpson Street was making sure that there was real inclusivity in the writers’ room — that there were several perspectives and voices of color in the room. So, a lot of that is in the writing. And one of the things we thought a lot about, as producers, was making sure that we hired different directors so that each character has its own slight adjustment in directorial perspective. It feels like a cohesive show but you do feel the differences when it shifts from one character to another.

It’s a much more intimate complexity, a quieter complexity. For us, it was exciting to make sure that the stakes were still as high when the force that you’re up against is your own jealousy, envy, or desire, as opposed to the White House or Gilead.

DEADLINE: Lesli Linka Glatter directed the first episode. What is it like to work with her

WASHINGTON: It was so exciting. I’d never worked with her before. Lizzie had, either on The West Wing, Mad Men or both. As a producer, to get to hire the head of the DGA at the time…she’s such a legend and somebody I’d wanted to work with for a long time. When she said yes, it was really exciting for us. I think we all felt like, ‘OK, now we really have a show.’ I feel like I learned so much working with Lesli, the care that she takes and the clarity that she fights for. She’s an extraordinary inspiration — and also so resilient. The fires had just happened right before we started filming, and she lost everything. Lesli lost her house. I remember she had a meeting with Annie, and she called Annie and said, “I want to meet with you, but all of my notes burned in the fire, so I’m going to need another day.” Just one day. And they rescheduled for one day later. And she came and directed despite having just been through that.

DEADLINE: There is a sense that female-led productions are now more common. In actuality, how unique is it to have a production like yours, with three female protagonists who are all on equal footing?

WASHINGTON: I feel like you think it is. We still get asked about it a lot, so I don’t think it’s as common as you think it is. Even the fact that we’re having this conversation means it’s not unnoticeable still. I don’t think it’s as outrageous as it was, even when Reese [Witherspoon] first started her production company or when Drew Barrymore first started Flower Films. We’re definitely living in a different landscape of actor-producers and female actor-producers creating work for themselves and other people. But I don’t think by any means we’re in a place of equitable production.

DEADLINE: Also, a complex female character used to be someone who was not purely in service of a male character, but it would also be one of extremes. With these characters, complex means something far more nuanced.

WASHINGTON: Yeah. It’s funny, I was saying to Kate and Lizzie that all three of us have had long, abundant careers, and the three of us have all played strong, complicated women. But, like you said, often those women were up against these larger-than-life forces, whether it was the entire state of journalism or the White House and the entire government, or the entire advertising industry. We’ve been up against these huge, big bads that are these external forces. And on the show, the big bad is really on the inside of all of us. What we’re grappling with is our own denial, our own fear of admitting who we are and what we want and who we love. It’s a much more intimate complexity, a quieter complexity. For us, it was exciting to make sure that the stakes were still as high when the force that you’re up against is your own jealousy, envy, or desire, as opposed to the White House or Gilead.

DEADLINE: Is it as an acting challenge more nuanced, more interesting or more difficult, when it’s something more interior?

WASHINGTON: It’s just different. I think for me, I have to mine my own emotional landscape with more diligence.

[Ben Affleck] was a director that I really admire, whose work I think has been spectacular throughout the years. The writing was great. The whole cast is great. And also as a producer, the opportunity to work with Artists Equity and to really be under the hood over there and see what they’re doing, what they’re creating.

DEADLINE: Was there a scene that you felt opened her up to you, where she was most authentically Eleanor?

WASHINGTON: I think the scene where she admits to her brother that she’s loved Robert (Joel Kinnaman) for as long as she has. Because that is the truth that she’s been suppressing for decades. And I think Donovan (Leslie Odom Jr.) becomes the first person that Eleanor risks being honest with to see if she’ll survive it. That leap into truth was very edifying for me.

DEADLINE: As an acting challenge, is it more nuanced, more interesting or more difficult when it’s something more interior?

WASHINGTON: It’s just different. I think, for me, I have to mine my own emotional landscape with more diligence.

DEADLINE: Was there a scene that you felt really opened her up to you, where she was the most authentic Eleanor?

WASHINGTON: I think perhaps the scene where she admits to her brother that she’s loved Robert (Joel Kinnaman) for as long as she has. Because that is the truth that she’s been suppressing for decades. And I think Donovan (Leslie Odom Jr.) becomes the first person that Eleanor risks being honest with to see if she’ll survive it. Taking that leap into truth was very edifying for me.

DEADLINE: On the show, she makes a terrible friend decision with Robert, but it’s one of the juiciest parts of the writing. How do you come to it, when you know it’s a horrible thing for a person to do?

WASHINGTON: It’s so funny, we used to argue about this all the time, because I’d be like, “Oh, it’s such a horrible thing she does.” And Kate Mara was like, “But she’s dead, who gives a sh*t.” It’s so funny, it depends on who you ask.

DEADLINE: Do you try to ground it in something or are you just like, look, the writing’s the writing?

WASHINGTON: No, every choice has to be grounded. You have to understand why the character does what they do. Because people don’t do bad things to be bad, people make difficult choices because they feel like they don’t have other options. Whether that’s fact or not, it’s how people feel. I always have to understand where the decision comes from, especially the bad decisions. I have to unpack, “What broken place is this decision coming from? What longing am I trying to feed or what wound am I trying to heal?” Because that’s why people make questionable choices.

It’s that old expression: “Hurt people hurt people.” So, I have to really understand, with a high level of compassion. If I’m judging my character, that means I’m outside of my character looking down on her. So, it’s not to say that I excuse all the behavior a character makes, but I have to at least understand it with a level of compassion and empathy.

DEADLINE: I love that Kate Mara was like, “She’s dead, you’re not cheating on anyone.”

WASHINGTON: [Laughing.] Yeah, she’s like, “Who cares, she’s gone.”

DEADLINE: What’s next? What was the draw to Ben Affleck’s Animals?
I mean, it was a director that I really admire, whose work I think has been spectacular throughout the years. The writing was great. The whole cast is great. And also as a producer, the opportunity to work with Artists Equity and to really be under the hood over there and see what they’re doing, what they’re creating. Because not only do I really admire and respect Ben’s work through the years, but what Matt [Damon] and Ben have created together is really exciting.

DEADLINE: Did it offer you a challenge that you haven’t encountered before?

WASHINGTON: Lots. It was one of the most emotionally rigorous jobs I’ve had, but also just the group of artists was so fun to work with.

DEADLINE: And then 24-7 with Eva, that’s a thing?

WASHINGTON: That’s not a thing, at the moment.

DEADLINE: And Netflix’s An Innocent Girl?

WASHINGTON: That’s where I’m on my way to right now. I’m filming right now in New Jersey. And then this summer, Simpson Street is producing The Whoopi Monologues at Lincoln Center. We’re re-staging Whoopi Goldberg’s one-woman show from decades ago, but we’re doing it with a cast of five actresses to honor Whoopi’s legacy and that groundbreaking material.

DEADLINE: In terms of professional accomplishments, what does it mean to be able to do that?

WASHINGTON: For Simpson Street, we really love cultivating work in the theater space. It’s such an important narrative space to create work and to support artists. But also I’ve met so many actresses through the years who will tell you that they would not be doing what they’re doing if it were not for this one-woman show that Whoopi Goldberg created. From Tracee Ellis Ross, to Robin Thede, to Anika Noni Rose. I actually recently heard an interview with an actor… It was Pedro Pascal, quoting Whoopi’s one-woman show and the impact that it had on him as a child. So many of us can still quote you the show verbatim. I feel really excited to be able to honor Whoopi in this way. And to bring this material, a lot of it which is sadly still resonant and relevant, but to bring it to new audiences.